Imagine.

So today could quite possibly be the happiest day of my life.

And here's why...

I got a tattoo.

That word instantly stirs up feelings in

you. Whether it's feelings of disgust, joy, intrigue, judgement, anger, regret...whatever it is, there's a feeling that brews inside you when you talk about them.

You either love them...or you hate them...or you like them, but only on other people.

I've always been a liker. I like to admire them on the skin of another. But today I became a lover...

I got a tattoo...somewhat on a whim. I've been brewing up a picture, an idea, a location on my body of what and where to get one. But in the depths of my heart, I never knew if I would go through with it.

So I'm a big fan of the imagination. We encourage children to have one, and advise them to never lose it...yet we scorn them should they have an imaginary friend. Never understood that one.

Anywho...imagination is a beautiful thing.

Someday I imagine myself sitting under a willow tree...a joyfully weeping willow...writing pages upon pages for novels that will one day be published.

I imagine a world where people believe that change lives in the little things. That you're not foolish to believe you can change the world. One small decision at a time.

I imagine words together that have

the power to make people cry...to make people wail...to make them scream and shout for joy.

I imagine art spilling out of my hands in the form of drawing, painting, playing the piano and the guitar, penciling words on paper.

I imagine up things that make me happy. That make me warm. That make me hopeful.

You should too.

We always encourage children to never lose their imagination. And yet, in the same breath, we tell them not to run away with their imagination. Which is it?

It seems as we grow older, it's quite inevitable that our imagination simply runs away...without us. We climb inside a box where ideas are no longer innovative and fresh...but stagnant and stale. There's no adventure. There's no risk. There's no all call for bravery.

I think I'd like to hold hands with my imagination and

simply frolic away...or run away, should the mood strike.

So....in that, I decided to implement a permanent reminder...to cling tightly to my fleeting imagination...

in the form of a tattoo.

Some of you might be familiar with my infatuation with unicorns. Well I guess I wouldn't call it an infatuation...more like a soft spot for them. For me, they're sort of a tangible representation of my imagination...without really being tangible, considering

they don't really exist. They're majestic and beautiful and quite honestly, they bring me joy.

Call me crazy.

Yes, I got a unicorn tattoo. And I can't look at it without smiling. I'm bubbling over with joy because I have a vibrant and imaginary talking creature colored onto my inner left ankle.

Cultivate whatever feelings you have about it, because I'm learning to care less about what other people think...and care more about what makes my spirit soar.

And for now, my spirit is holding hands with my imagination...galloping, soaring, over my ankle bone and off into the land of make believe.

God had quite the imagination when he thought this world, this body, into creation.

And this body, this body is fleeting, temporary. For most, tattoos are too permanent. For me, this body is not permanent, so I'll choose to fluff my spirit, and bring joy to my life, through a permanent tattoo on a temporary body.

Thanks God for art. For expression. For imagination. And for creation.